Doesn’t it seem like it’s been years since the “shithole” controversy was the lead story on cable news?
It’s been less than three months.
But in that time at least 162 people have complained to the FCC about the coverage and use of the word, first used by President Trump in an Oval Office meeting.
Through the Freedom of Information Act, Politico got its hands on those public complaints, in which viewers complained about coverage on NBC News, NPR and MSNBC. But most of the grousing was about CNN.
CNN was mentioned 249 times across the 162 pages of response that the FCC supplied to POLITICO. Some cited specific CNN journalists, such as Don Lemon and Jim Acosta, and called the network fake news. One suggested most members of the media hate Trump and his voters and said the use of such indecent language is “responsible for the growing animosity that leads to riots and other crimes and is in fact tearing our country apart.”
And while much of the criticism targeted cable news channels, the FCC is only bound to enforce profanity complaints against broadcast stations.
Head over to Politico to read some of the complaints.